Container manufacture



Dec. 25, 1956 c. P. J. BESTER CONTAINER MANUFACTURE Filed NOV. 1, 1954 United States Patent 2,775,387 CONTAINER MANUFACTURE Christiaan P. J. Bester, Maitland, Cape Town, Union of South Africa, assignor to Herzberg Mullne Automatic Products Limited, Woodstock, Cape Town, Cape Province, Union of South Africa Application November 1, 1954, Serial No. 466,181

Claims priority, application Union of South Africa December 2, 1953 .J' I Claims. (Cl. 229-) This invention relates to the manufacture of containers, cartons and the like suitable for the packing and transportation of fruit, vegetables, fish and other perishable goods. It relates more particularly, although not exclusively, to the manufacture of such a container from relatively cheap, light-weight, fibrous board, sheet or like material such as waterproof corrugated paper board or sheet material and it provides for the making up of the container as required for use, from prepared blanks of such material which can be transported in the flat condition until required, by a method which is easy and expeditious to perform and eliminates the need of stapling or other such fastening devices for maintaining the shape and providing adequate strength.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a container or the like is formed to the requisite shape from two blanks, preferably of material of the kind above referred to, whereof one is prepared with creases about which it may be folded or bent to provide a floor bordered by side and end walls, a lid hingeably connected with one of the walls and a flap connected with the lid and engageable with the opposite wall when i the lid is closed. The other blank is prepared with creases about which it may be folded or bent around to embrace the aforementioned walls and secured by passing the free ends inwardly through an aperture in the said one wall or any of said walls.

If desired, the aforementioned free ends may be of such length as, when passed through the said aperture, to extend as a partition between the end or opposite walls of the box formation provided by the folded and bent first blank.

The said free ends may preferably fit sufficiently tightly in the aperture as to constitute a sufiicient joint, between the two prepared, folded and combined blanks, to obviate the need of stapling or any other form of fastening or connection.

Ventilation holes are provided, as required, conveniently in the blank which provides the floor or base, the walls and the flapped lid; conveniently also such holes may be provided in the lid-forming area of the blank. That area is also preferably bordered by reinforcing strips, e. g. wood battens, along those sides which, when the lid is closed, mate with the upper edges of end walls.

A container as aforesaid, when packed and closed, may be easily and cheaply sealed around its edges by gummed I paper or the like applied thereto.

. Reference is now made to the accompanying drawings showing the two blanks of Figures 1 and 2 bent approximately into the shapes for being combined together; and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the completed conp, CC

tainer resulting from the combination of the prepared blanks shown inFigures laand 2a.

In the illustrated example, a container of oblong rectangular plan form and desired area (see Figure 3) may be composed of two blanks. The first, shown in Figure 1, constitutes the box formation, and the second, shown in Figure 2, the reinforcement around the first and means for holding in its walls, and if desired forming a transverse partition within it.

i The first blank comprises seven oblong areas demarcated'by straight creases or fold lines at a, b, c, d, e, 1, one of which areas, area 1, is of the required plan form of the container, a second area 4, extends along onelong edge b of the 'first and is of equal" width to the desired depth of the container, and two others 2 and 3 extend along opposite short sides a and c of the first and may be of somewhat less width than the second area 4. The fifth area 5, similar to the second 4, is arrangedalong the fourth edge d of the first, and its opposite long edge coincides in 2 with one long edge of the sixth area 6. This last area is of equal area and form to the first area 1 l and its second long edge 1 has arranged along it the sevacross the area 5 in the middle of its length and is of sufiicient width to admit two thicknesses of the material chosen for the second blank. The blank may further include a suitable arrangement and distribution of holes 12, slits or the like over the sixth or lid area.

The second blank, see Figure 2, is an oblong strip of material of width equal to that of the areas 4 and 5 and thus also equal to the desired depth of the container. The second blank has a length equal to the total perimetrical length of the first mentioned of the first blank areas, plus sufficient at the two ends to allow these to be entered together through the slot aforesaid to any distance. The ends will preferably reach across the full width of the said first mentioned area of the first blank. The second blank or strip is provided with six transverse creases or fold lines at positions g, h, i, j, k, 1 corresponding to the relative positions of the four corners of the lastmentioned area 1 and to the positions of the sides of the aforementioned slot 11 in relation to two adjacent corners.

The container is readily assembled by bending up from the area 1 of the first blank, and to the same side thereof, the areas 2, 3, 4 and 5 to form the base and the four walls; bending the area 6 over or towards the first to form a lid; and bending the fiap area 7 down from the free edge of the lid, all substantially as shown in Figure 111. With the first blank set up in this way, the second blank, capable now of being bent into an approximately B-formation about its creases or fold lines as in Figure 2a, is brought into such formation around the outside of the front and side walls 4, 2 and 3 of the prepared first blank, and also inwardly around the fourth wall 5, the two outer areas or free ends 2: and y being pushed together tightly into and through the aforementioned slot 11 (in the back wall) and to reach more or less across the interior of the box formation, e. g. as a partition dividing its capacity equally into two.

With the two portions of the container thus assembled and sutficiently connected that it provides a double-thickness walled stout structure which retains its shape, the lid 6 may be pushed down about its hinging crease or fold line e with the back wall and secured by pushing the flap 7 in between the two thicknesses of material at p and q then providing the front wall of the container; whereuponthe whole may be sealed, if desired, around upper and lower edges as by gummed paper or the like.

The invention is not intended to be limited by the foregoing specific description ofone. example thereof, asv it is applicable to the construction ofvarious forms and capacities of container,- within theambit of the more general statements .herein andthe appended claims.

I claim:

1. Means. for forming a container comprisingv a first creased blank providing a floor; side and end walls bordering said floor, a lid hingedly connected with one of said walls, and a flap connected to said lid and engageable with the opposite'wall, one of said walls defining an aperture; and-a second creased blank formed for encompassingsaid side-and end walls, the ends of said second creased blank being received in the aperture.

2. Means for forming acontainer as. claimed in claim 1 wherein the ends received in the aperture extend across said floor to form a partition in said container.

3. Means for forming a container as claimed in claim 2 wherein the ends fit tightly into the aperture so that said second creased blank maintains the side and end walls of said first creased blank normal to said floor.

4. Means for forming a container as claimed in claim 3 wherein said-first creased blank defines holes for providing ventilation for said container.

5. Means for forminga container as claimed in claim 4 wherein said lid includes sides adapted to abut the upper edges of said end walls, said means further comprising reinforcing strips positioned at said sides.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 480,639 Canada Jan. 29, 1952 

